The Big Apple Progressive Democrat has been getting his ducks in a row for weeks….
He’d be the 22nd person in the 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination sweepstake contest….
His announcement should be in the middle of next week….
Mayor de Blasio will jump into the 2020 presidential race next week, according to four people with knowledge of his plans, entering a crowded field of 21 other Democratic hopefuls and two Republicans — dead last.
The 2020 kickoff could come as early as de Blasio’s birthday on Wednesday, when he’ll turn 58, two sources said.
And not a second too soon. The last-minute announcement by the mayor — whose reputation for being late was cemented by his tardiness to a 2014 event honoring victims of American Airlines Flight 587 — has many politicos scratching their heads.
“Whatever theoretical bases he may target are already being courted by nationally recognized figures,” one of the sources said. “He may have a shot if every Democratic candidate is caught sending racy selfies to minors.”
De Blasio has said he wouldn’t run if he didn’t think he could make it all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
“I was the underdog in everything I’ve ever been near, and I’m not saying that with any hubris,” the mayor said Thursday. “Any time I get in a race I get in it to win.”
De Blasio’s been laying the groundwork for a campaign for months, traveling to key early voting primary states across the country and moving staff from City Hall to work for his federal political action committee…..
image….thewashingtonexaminer
(1) No sitting or former President has ever also served in the “second-toughest job in America”, as Mayor of New York (before or after Consolidation in 1897-98), although several Mayors have sought the Presidency, most recently Rudy Giuliani and John Lindsay. (The Roosevelts were both Governor of New York state, but never Mayor of New York city, although TR ran a nominal GOP campaign for the job in 1886, coming in third.)
However, several Presidents have been former Governors, including both Roosevelts, Martin Van Buren, and Grover Cleveland, as have several unsuccessful candidates for President (e.g. Horatio Seymour, Charles E. Hughes, Al Smith and Thomas Dewey).
(2) …. which begs the second question for me: given the toxic relationship between Mayor De Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo * — who has never disguised his own ambitions — when, if ever, will Andrew Cuomo jump into the Democratic race for President ?
* The relationship between the Governor and the Mayor has always been very difficult, no matter which party each belongs to, and no matter whether or not they belong to the same party (e.g. Nelson Rockefeller and Mayor Lindsay, both Republicans). But the Cuomo-De Blasio feud seems particularly hostile.
Good observation on the Big Apple mayor and the Empire State Governor….
We’re taking about BIG money and influence here….
NYC Budget around $90B….
NYS Budget around $150B…
NYC employee’s 200,000….
NYS employee’s could be as high as 600,000 but probably closer to the city total directly since the state has autonomous agencies that city does not….
Sooooo?
You have a big state and the biggest city sitting in any state…
Cuomo, more than any other recent Governor has been active in excerting his influence in NYC affairs…
City mayors often though have to be reminded that their city owe’s its existence to being chartered by the state and that they need state approval for many things…
De Blasio helped Hillary Clinton back when she ran for the US Senate but was let go from the campaign 2 months before the election…
He is in office as a Democrat after 20 years of Republican NYC mayors….
He has taken hard hits from the NYC media for sometimes thoughtless political moves…
But he IS supported by the cities voters because he is seen as the guy who support’s the cities minority community , which is biggest voting block now….
He’ll join the large left leaners and has virtually NO chance….
But as with the others?
It WILL elevate his national standing…
He’s only 58 years old….
I’m not sure what you were thinking when you wrote that, James, but New York state (which has lagged California since the 1970 Census) is now 4th in state populations [CA 39.5 m; Tx 28.3; Fla < 21 ; NY < 2o ], while New York City still clearly leads every other U.S. city in population (8.6 million vs L.A.’s 4 million).
Ok
On the NYC vs LA I must have thought about including LA county which is wrong….
I should remember it’s Ca, Tx, Fla THEN NY
I’ve been getting sloppy a bit lately….
Good to have someone fact checking me,,…
BTW?
I hope our alumni are ALL doing well…..
Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi announced on Saturday he will not seek a fifth term, declining to run for reelection in 2020, Politico reports.
Details: Enzi, a 75-year-old Republican, who was first elected to his seat in 1996, chairs the Senate Budget Committee. He will retire at the end of this term. Per Politico, the seat is expected to stay in Republican hands. The Washington Post reports he will spend the remainder of his term concentrating on budget reform….
Axios…
Ah?
Just saw something pointing out that California’s population is declining….
Hi everyone! I can’t remember the last time I posted but it has been awhile. I have been extremely busy at work.
James, you are confused in what you read. California’s growth rate is declining, but its population still grew by 0.5% last year. I believe that New York state’s population is declining. Maybe you got the two states confused – or perhaps you thought a declining growth rate was the equivalent of a population decline?
Been following the 2020 race, and have been a little surprised to see such little movement of the candidates. I still haven’t decided who I am for, but If the Democrats are going to win, they will have to stay united and resist efforts from Republicans and others like James who use GOP propaganda to attempt to divide the Democratic Party.
I think that the Democrats need to watch the head to head polling for each of the candidates vs Trump as something to consider before casting your ballot. I believe the Elizabeth Warren is one of my favorite candidates, but I am and should be troubled that she does poorly in the head-to-head polls against Trump. Recall how Hillary did relatively poorly in the polls against Trump compared to Sanders but the Democrats nominated her anyway.
At this stage of the race, I think that Sanders is the most inspirational of the candidates, but I don’t think he is the Dems best choice. So far, I have not been impressed with Harris, Booker, and some if the lesser-known candidates. I think Klobuchar is an interesting possibility, but I don’t see her catching on at this point. Still lots of time to make a decision.
Hi Zreebs,James DSD,,,
Just checking in .How is everybody?Im doing ok.Slowly winding down my legal work.Been doing a little traveling and lots of reading.
Am currently supporting Biden as I think he offers the best chance for defeating Trump which is my priority.
Hope all you guys are doing well. Also hope Keith, Scott and CG are as well.
Very good to hear from you, Jack & Zreebs,
I’m very much undecided between Sanders (a fellow democratic socialist who led Trump by the most in trial polls and has some genuine break-the-china appeal to discontented workers) and Biden (someone else with working-class appeal who seems to be acceptable to all sides of the Democratic Party and of possible Democratic sympathizers, who also has the greatest government experience since GHW Bush and Hillary Clinton).
Five candidates (at least) were on this morning’s talk shows, including Bernie Sanders.
(2) Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo — why ?? — and how does he differ materially from Gov. Hickenlooper?) seems hopeless, although it’s possible he could learn stuff on the campaign trail;
(3) Sen. Amy Klobuchare (DFL-Minn.) is a non-socialist centrist whose views and reasoning I respect, but this morning she just seemed like a robocall mindlessly pushing her prepared line (staying On Message);
(4) Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), whom I only caught in snatches because his interview sandwiched Sen,. Sanders’, but from the little I saw seemed quite credible.
I know this era is supposed (only because of 2016) to be that of the Outsider, but why Jay Inslee, John Delaney, Wayne Messam, Seth Moulton,
Tulsi Gabbard, Eric Swalwell or Mike Gravel ?
At least one can argue that Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang are genuine outsiders to government, if that’s what you seek.
And there are some residual reasons for some of the Clown Car’s other riders — Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), for example, established at least the ghost of a platform, rationale, position and prominence when he challenged Rep. Nancy Pelosi (that San Francsico Democrat) for Speaker of the House.
There does seem to be at least some well-grounded support for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), ex-Rep. & Mayor Juliàn Castro (D-San Antonio, Tx), ex-Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), and Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-South Bend, Ind.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries
For CG’s take on the candidates, see
https://cgpolitics.blogspot.com/
Sorry……
Daniel G. and Corey also checked in a while ago…..
Everyone seems to be fine….
Glad to hear from you Jack…..
It’s been DSD and me since you left….
Keith and Z checked in once…..
As you can see for my posts I am STRONGLY supporting Joe Biden also……
I gave a shout out to everyone last week….
Oh, Ron G has moved from Florida to work with Maryland Governor Hogan’s people….
A Hogan run in the offering?
Props to u on Mueller…
I expected more reaction to the report throw down…..
I do miss the conversations…
But…
Absent them?
The show goes on here at the PDog!….
Again…
The BEST to all who come to this place!….
Lower tier people should begin to have $$$$ problems with Biden and Sanders owning most of the media oxygen…..
It’s like a reunion here…. I hope everyone is well. Let’s see if this comment goes into moderation.
james, I was just wondering why you said Biden was “twice a winner with Obama” in South Carolina. That ticket lost the state badly both times.
It would be interesting to hear all the perspectives among you Democrats as to the 24 candidate caravan.
Right now, I would say there is a better than 50 percent chance I will be voting in Illinois’s Democrat primary next March, not because I have any enthusiasm about any of your candidates (maybe I would write in Theo Epstein for President), but because I want to vote out Cook County States’ Attorney Kimberly Foxx and the Democrat Primary is going to be the only way to do that.
Comments problem taken care of a while ago….
Different hosting service…..
We seem to ALL agree here that Joe Biden is the Democratic party’s best hope….
Glad to know everyone was still tuned in….
I feel the lower tier people will soon be on campaign life support….
Good to know my comments are going thru. I don’t know if I have my password saved on the work computer though. If the conversation ever returns here, I may find it hard to stay away…
I don’t know if Biden is the most electable Democrat from my perspective, but he is certainly more electable than Bernie Sanders, especially after the “let’s let felons in prison in vote” stance. I do not think Sanders can beat Trump in a general election, with this economy, even as horrible as Trump is.
Biden might be able to, but I think he is going to struggle to win the nomination. Not saying it is impossible, but it’s going to be very difficult.
The most electable Democrat is probably someone who can claim to be an “outsider” and has as little biographical and ideological baggage of possible.
Out of all the 24 candidates and only counting those who are getting the most attention, I suppose that might be Buttigieg right now. In theory, I would think that Montana Governor Steve Bullock could have the best chance of taking away the most Trump voters, but I do not know how he comes across on television at the big league level.
Hickenlooper and Bennet should be stronger than they are, coming from a purple state, but both are extremely awkward on television and Hickenlooper is now even embarrassed to admit to being a capitalist which shows where the party has gone.
Klobuchar was highly touted but her campaign seems very much hampered by the stories about her mistreating her staff.
If the priority for Democrats is simply ending the reign of Trump, with the Progressive Agenda having to go on the back-burner, the best solution of course would be for all of them to step aside and offer the nomination to Kasich or Hogan, with their full support, even if they run officially under a different party name.
That sort of stategy *almost* worked in Israel recently, and would be nearly foolproof in beating Trump next year.
I see NO One from the third tier having a prayer with Biden and Sanders eating up the campaign donations…
The two flavours of the month with the media Beto and Buttigieg are fading fast already…
My feeling is a rookie Democrat would be eaten for breakfast by Trump and the media…
I’m for Biden to put some the place back together again and reinstall some normality and COMPROMISE
Primary CG…..
Well, that’s quite a stretch on Biden and SC. For one thing, the 2012 SC Dem primary was hardly a contest and Biden’s name was not on the ballot.
Obama had a big SC win in the 2008 primary, but that was months before he picked Biden as his running-mate.
Biden, on his own, has had zero electoral success in a long career, outside of Delaware.
Biden = Obama for a LOT of Democrats so far….
Good to hear from you Jack.
I consider Biden a possibility to vote for in the primary, but I still believe that few people at age 70 have the physical and intellectual ability to do the job effectively. I will be watching Biden to see if he has any senior moments. So far he looks to be in good shape and ready to go. We’ll see.
I made a comment that apparently got lost about Reagan’s age at inauguration (about 69 years & 11 months) and leaving office (about 77 years & 11 months), by which time Alzheimer’s was already noticeable to those around him (for example, he couldn’t distinguish historical reality with a film rôle he’d played).
Joe Biden has already said that if elected President next year, he would not seek a second term.
Biden has explicitly not said he would limit his term. He said just the opposite last week. I think it would have been smart for him to have said right off the bat that he would not seek a second term. That has not happened though.
I disagree that there was any indication that Reagan had Ahlzheimer’s when he left office. That sort of “not able to distinguish reality from the movies” was something his political opponents were saying as far back as the 60’s.
The Biden not seeing a second term line I believe is NOT true…
The idea has been floated though….
Ok…
I see CG beat me to this….
no lost comments in the queue….